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I was contacted by Whippet Rescue 10 days ago or so and as a result added to our household, for the moment, is Toby an elderly Whippet who has been rescued as a result of losing his owner/s and his home very suddenly.
He lived with a mother and daughter who has severe learning difficulties but sadly the mother died, leaving the daughter to be cared for by a team of carers. As part of their duties, they fed Toby but I think that's about all. Then one day, the young lady was told she was being moved into supervised accommodation and as it was open plan, she couldn't take Toby. It is my understanding that this all happened within 24/48 hours. Someone did take pity on Toby but when Whippet Rescue was contacted it was a case of (I believe) that if Rescue didn't take him then he was going to be put to sleep.
Rescue weren't even sure whether or not he was a Whippet at this stage. I went to see him and I hadn't hardly got out of the car before the lady was handing me Toby, his lead, bed and toy. Fortunately, he is a Whippet. But what a sad state he was in.
He was thin, his coat was dull as ditchwater, as were his eyes and he did look as if sending him to sleep might be the kinder option. However, I brought him home and thought that if he made it through to the next day, it would be a miracle, but he did. Bless him, he has hardly any teeth, so soft food is the only option for him. The next day, I gave him a bath, trimmed his very long nails. They were so long and curling under that he was almost down on his knees. Bless him, he was so good, he just stood there and let me get on with it. The improvement was almost immediate. I don't think he could quite believe that it didn't hurt to walk anymore. He kind of looked at me as if to say, that feels better. He was also shedding his coat quite badly so I have used my circulation brushes on him every day and now his coat has got a shine to it and he's stopped shedding his coat.
He was full of sores and very wobbly on his legs also, so I have been rubbing him with Aloe Vera gel and the sores are going away quite nicely. His right hind leg has a bit of spasm every so often but that has started to lessen as he is getting a bit more exercise.
Toby likes to eat fish (preferably with batter on!), adores chocolate but steadfastly refuses to eat the food that came with him, there was a box of those minced morsel type things. He loves Quaker Oats and just about anything we give him provided it is cut up into small enough pieces. He has put on 2lb, which I am pleased about and yesterday, I felt he was well enough to go out for a short walk. I took him round what I call the puppy block, it is about half a mile and he really enjoyed himself, although it was plenty far enough for him.
He has started wagging his tail and gets along famously with BJ, but woe betide BJ if he tries to sleep in Toby's favourite spot on the sofa. Fortunately, BJ has a special chair.
:thumbsup: Toby is a very clean dog and thus far has not had any 'accidents'. You can tell he is relaxing and feeling more secure cos now he stretches out all over the sofa rather than curling up like a little ball. Since the first couple of days he hasn't used his bed, so it has become redundant for the moment. He has also started to play with his toy, which he likes to be thrown so he can chase it. I only play like that with him for about 10 minutes as it tires him out easily, but he is much more bright eyed and it's lovely to see his tail wagging.
Rescue are trying to find him a new permanent home, but this may take a while, as he is around 10 years old.
So if anyone out there (he's black and white by the way) is interested please contact Whippet Rescue.
He lived with a mother and daughter who has severe learning difficulties but sadly the mother died, leaving the daughter to be cared for by a team of carers. As part of their duties, they fed Toby but I think that's about all. Then one day, the young lady was told she was being moved into supervised accommodation and as it was open plan, she couldn't take Toby. It is my understanding that this all happened within 24/48 hours. Someone did take pity on Toby but when Whippet Rescue was contacted it was a case of (I believe) that if Rescue didn't take him then he was going to be put to sleep.
Rescue weren't even sure whether or not he was a Whippet at this stage. I went to see him and I hadn't hardly got out of the car before the lady was handing me Toby, his lead, bed and toy. Fortunately, he is a Whippet. But what a sad state he was in.
He was thin, his coat was dull as ditchwater, as were his eyes and he did look as if sending him to sleep might be the kinder option. However, I brought him home and thought that if he made it through to the next day, it would be a miracle, but he did. Bless him, he has hardly any teeth, so soft food is the only option for him. The next day, I gave him a bath, trimmed his very long nails. They were so long and curling under that he was almost down on his knees. Bless him, he was so good, he just stood there and let me get on with it. The improvement was almost immediate. I don't think he could quite believe that it didn't hurt to walk anymore. He kind of looked at me as if to say, that feels better. He was also shedding his coat quite badly so I have used my circulation brushes on him every day and now his coat has got a shine to it and he's stopped shedding his coat.
He was full of sores and very wobbly on his legs also, so I have been rubbing him with Aloe Vera gel and the sores are going away quite nicely. His right hind leg has a bit of spasm every so often but that has started to lessen as he is getting a bit more exercise.
Toby likes to eat fish (preferably with batter on!), adores chocolate but steadfastly refuses to eat the food that came with him, there was a box of those minced morsel type things. He loves Quaker Oats and just about anything we give him provided it is cut up into small enough pieces. He has put on 2lb, which I am pleased about and yesterday, I felt he was well enough to go out for a short walk. I took him round what I call the puppy block, it is about half a mile and he really enjoyed himself, although it was plenty far enough for him.
He has started wagging his tail and gets along famously with BJ, but woe betide BJ if he tries to sleep in Toby's favourite spot on the sofa. Fortunately, BJ has a special chair.:thumbsup: Toby is a very clean dog and thus far has not had any 'accidents'. You can tell he is relaxing and feeling more secure cos now he stretches out all over the sofa rather than curling up like a little ball. Since the first couple of days he hasn't used his bed, so it has become redundant for the moment. He has also started to play with his toy, which he likes to be thrown so he can chase it. I only play like that with him for about 10 minutes as it tires him out easily, but he is much more bright eyed and it's lovely to see his tail wagging.
Rescue are trying to find him a new permanent home, but this may take a while, as he is around 10 years old.
So if anyone out there (he's black and white by the way) is interested please contact Whippet Rescue.
